Zynsky's fused-glass-thread vessel Bald Eagle (2020) shown below a picture of a bald eagle. photo: andy morffew, courtesy: flickr; zynsky work courtesy: heller gallery, new york

Thursday March 5, 2020 | by Nick Lykoudis

OPENING: Toots Zynsky celebrates the plumage of endangered birds in New York City exhibition

Toots Zynsky's solo exhibition at New York City's Heller Gallery, which opens on March 6th, borrows its name, "Red List", from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. The title speaks to Zynsky's recognition of the fragility of our ecosystem and calls attention to our world's decaying biodiversity.

The artist in her studio. photo courtesy: james schnepf and the american craft council.

Wednesday March 4, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

CONVERSATION: Shayna Leib talks flow, glass, and movement

FILED UNDER: Artist Interviews, Exhibition, Image Gallery

Shayna Leib, whose artwork ranges from undulating undersea plant life to glistening, hyper-realistic French pastries, has appeared in 75 exhibitions since graduating from University of Wisconsin, Madison, with an MFA in glass in 2003. Her "Pâtisserie" series is currently on view in a group exhibition titled "Céramiques Gourmandes" at the Bernardaud Fondation in Limoges, France. While her impeccable desserts realized in glass and ceramic are the product of her intense precision and technical mastery, Leib's sea-inspired work is more spontaneous and flowing, inspired by her love of diving and attraction to the aquatic world. Her "Deep Aquarium" series was acquired for the permanent collection of The Deep aquarium in Hull, England.

Jiyong Lee, Mitosis

Tuesday March 3, 2020 | by Nick Lykoudis

Four glass artists among finalists for Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2020

The finalists for The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize have been announced, and four glass artists — Veronika Beckh, Jiyong Lee, Jessica Loughlin, and Tobias Mohl — are among the 30 artists short-listed. This annual prize, offered since 2017, is sponsored by the European luxury fashion house Loewe, and seeks to recognize artists that have made "fundamentally important contributions to the development of contemporary craft." The prize was developed to celebrate the luxury-goods company's origins as a 19th-century collective craft workshop, and the company's creative director, Jonathan Anderson, is among the 12 jurors. Others include award-winning architects Wang Shu and Benedetta Tagliabue, as well as museum directors Naoto Fukasawa, Olivier Gabet, and Deyan Sudjic.

John Kiley, Halo, 2018. H 19 in. photo: ben vanhouten

Tuesday March 3, 2020 | by Andrew Page

Venice exhibition that traces the American-Murano connection and its influence on Studio Glass pushes back opening date due to Covid-19 virus

With officials ending Venice's annual Carnival celebration two days early, and a dozen towns in the regions of Lombardy and Veneto currently under quarantine due to multiple cases of confirmed coronavirus (Covid-19), it seems prudent that the organizers of the major exhibition "Venice and American Studio Glass" would push the opening forward a month. Originally set to debut on March 23, 2020, at Le Stanze del Vetro at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, the new opening date is April 26. Also extended is the end-date, as the exhibition will now run through August 2, 2020.

A scene from the 2014 edition of the Glass Virus.

Monday March 2, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: The Glass Virus Think Tank VI, with the theme "Relevance of Critical Making: Practice and Education," will take place this November in Amsterdam

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Call for Submissions, Events, News

The Glass Virus, a Think Tank for educational strategies, is inviting researchers and postgraduates to submit abstracts for Relevance of Critical Making: Practice and Education Think Tank VI to be held at the Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, November 6-7, 2020. The deadline to submit abstracts is March 23, 2020.

A portrait of Toots Zynsky by Mary Van Cline as part of her ongoing "Documenta" project.

Thursday February 27, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

Vermont glass-artist group to celebrate tenth anniversary with Toots Zynsky lecture and member exhibition

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Events, Exhibition

Ten years ago, a group of glass artists decided to form a guild as a way to procure more buying power, market collectively, and simply to build a community in a large, mostly-rural New England state. The Vermont Glass Guild, a non-profit organization that now numbers more than 40 Vermont-based glass artists, will be celebrating their 10th Anniversary on May 9, 2020, with a hybrid exhibition and lecture event at the Southern Vermont Art Center's Wilson Museum that will feature a presentation by New England-based glass artist Toots Zynsky.

Wednesday February 26, 2020 | by Andrew Page

HOT OFF THE PRESSES: The Spring 2020 edition of Glass (#158)

The Spring 2020 edition of Glass: The UrbanGlass Art Quarterly (#158) is hitting newsstands and subscriber mailboxes. On the cover is a stained-glass light box by Judith Schaechter titled Murdered Animal (2019), at its centerpiece a mortally wounded feline creature rendered in a stack of stained glass images. The multiple layers allow a level of detail in the ripple of sinewy muscles or vertebral lumps on this animal body curled into a fetal position and cocooned in a womb-like refuge. The animal sports multiple wounds, defined by scarlet drops of blood that pick up the red-hues of the surrounding tapestry-like quasi-decorative field that also resembles a network of vein-like stems, perhaps umbilical connections between the victim and the fertility of the natural world. The richness of this work, and its central theme of nature under assault, make it as timely as it is visually compelling.

Tuesday February 25, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: The VCUarts Fountainhead Fellowship offers a 9-month residency with housing and stipend for recent MFA grads

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Call for Submissions, Fellowship, News

Graduate from an MFA program in the past five years? An exceptional opportunity for artists in fiber, metal, glass, or wood -- a nine-month residency in Richmond, Virginia -- is now accepting applications. The VCUarts Fountainhead Fellowship in Craft/Material Studies provides opportunities to concentrate on advancing your artist practice, community building, gaining teaching experience, and participating in what the announcement describes as "a vital, interdisciplinary, socially progressive community of artists." The Fountainhead Fellowship is a joint project of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, the Departments of Craft/Material Studies, Painting + Printmaking, and Sculpture + Extended Media as well as Fountainhead Development Services. One of many degree-offering schools at VCU, the School of the Arts comprises 18 bachelor's degree programs and six master's degree programs.

Dan Dailey, Dubious from the series Individuals, 2011. Blown, sandblasted, and acid-polished glass; metal. photo: bill truslow. © dan dailey

Thursday February 20, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

OPENING: Dan Dailey's portraiture explored in "Character Sketch" exhibition at Chrysler Museum

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Events, Exhibition, Museums

"Dan Dailey: Character Sketch," an exhibition focusing on figurative work of prolific glass artist Dan Dailey, opens this Friday. The work will be on view at The Chrysler Museum from February 21 to May 31, 2020. The Chrysler-curated show will feature 33 artworks and span the artist’s 40-year career. The museum's Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass Carolyn Swan Needell has written a catalog to accompany the exhibition. Subjective and narrative in nature, Dailey’s work is “inspired by the human character and based upon his direct observation of the world,” reads the exhibition announcement. The artist "articulates his perceptions and thoughts about humanity through the medium of glass, pushing the material to new frontiers in order to tell stories about human nature," the announcement continues. Dailey is known as one of the most unique voices within the field of contemporary glass, and the exhibition will include blown and hot-worked glass vases and sculpture, glass cane murals, wall reliefs made from Vitrolite, industrial colored glass, as well as his original drawings.

Jennifer Caldwell and Jason Chakravarty, Small Octopus/Purple. Lampworked glass. H 3 1/2, W 8, D 3 1/2 in.

Thursday February 20, 2020 | by Farah Rose Smith

EXHIBITION: "Fins, Whales, and Octopus Tales" gathers a diverse range of ocean-themed work in glass for Texas gallery show

FILED UNDER: Announcements, Artist Interviews, Events, Exhibition, News

"Fins, Whales, and Octopus Tales" is the title of a lively group exhibition of contemporary glass art concerned with depicting the undersea world. While all the work in the exhibition shares an association with the sea, Barbara Kittrell, curator and co-founder of the Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery in Dallas, Texas, didn't want to lock the artists into narrow parameters when she invited them to be in the show, which runs until March 1, 2020.

Glass: The UrbanGlass Quarterly, a glossy art magazine published four times a year by UrbanGlass has provided a critical context to the most important artwork being done in the medium of glass for more than 40 years.